First to 1000
by Turretwithaview
Summary: "So, you think you can out-tag me Detective? Let me warn you, I beat Alexis to 1000 and she was trained by the best … me!"


**AN: The idea of the ****_purple_**** Laser Tag equipment is from a story (can't recall the name right now) I read several weeks ago. My apologies for the blatant plagiarism of the colour … if anyone knows or can remember the story please let me know so I can reference it here. **

**For anyone wanting to see the floorplan I've used in this story it's: loftcastle jpg at http img824 imageshack us - img824 - 1447 - loftcastle - jpg **

**Thanks**

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**First to One Thousand**

"_So, you think you can out-tag me Detective? Let me warn you, I beat Alexis to 1000 and she was trained by the best … me!_"

"_Castle, you don't stand a chance, I'm a trained cop … you're looking at getting your ass hung out to dry!_"

"_Well I may have just the thing for you Beckett_" he says with a grin, disappearing into the bedroom. A few minutes later he emerges with a large, ribbon wrapped box in his hands.

She looks at him, a laugh escaping her "_No! You didn't, Rick!_"

He grins at her "_Open it … go on!_"

With another laugh she pulls the ribbon lose, rips the paper off and lifts the lid from the box "_Oh! Purple!_"

He grins in satisfaction at her simple pleasure …. _wow! And she didn't throw it in my face … I just can't imagine giving this to Meredith or Gina … they wouldn't have got It, wouldn't have understood the significance of sharing such a special thing … _it wasn't just that Kate is willing to humour him … it is the fact that for so long this has been 'their' thing, Alexis and him … and now his beautiful Detective is willing to take up the mantle … just, wow!

He leans down and kisses her, lips brushing lips, tongues touching, curling and seeking each other out. They pull apart, both slightly out of breath, him with a twitch in his back from the uncomfortable, bent position he's just been in.

"_So, first to one thousand?_"

Her eyes narrow as she looks at him, her lips twitch, "_Ok, big guy, you're on … but I want the study …_"

He shrugs "_No big deal Detective, the kitchen suits me fine …. get ready to get your ass kicked!_"

Kate stands up, kicks off her shoes and allows Castle to help her on with her vest, his hands wondering more than they should until she gives him a pointed look and a slap on the wrist "_Later Castle …. You'll have to reward me for taking you down_"

He splutters, then grins … "_It would be worth it_" he says, giving her a peck and donning his own vest. They turn the lights off in the sitting area and he moves to the hallway to repeat the process for the entrance area and kitchen.

Kate meanwhile enters the study, switching off lights as she goes. She pushes into the bedroom, turns all but the two bedside lamps off and with a giggle moves back into the study, peering between the books on the wall-shelf out into the sitting room. Patiently she waits for him to make the first move.

Castle crouches behind the end of the L-shaped kitchen counter. To his right is the dining area, giving him the relative cover of table, chairs and end wall. In the sitting room, between himself and the shelves forming the study's partition is the couch, giving him cover from in front. Of course, it also offers cover to Kate if she moves out of the study.

He scuttles past the open shelves holding the tableware and crouches by the table behind the couch. He strains his ears, trying to catch a sound, any sound that will give her away. Silence. On hands and knees he moves to the left, past the end of the couch and stands up, his back to the pillar.

Carefully he pokes his head round the corner, eyes scanning the area in front of him … nothing. He moves further round the pillar, crouches and scrutinises the wall of books and bric-a-brac … she is either still hiding in the study … not what his kick-ass Detective would do … or she is behind him!

He spins round … nothing … he moves back round the pillar and checks behind the couch … nothing … where the hell is she!? … he turns back again … checks the open area and scuttles across to the piano … still no sight or sound of her.

Kate meanwhile, clutching her lip between her teeth and trying not to giggle has caught sight of his fleeting shadow moving across from the far pillar to the near one. He is now off to her right, somewhere near the piano … she stealthily moves back until she reaches the shelves against the bedroom wall and quickly moves through the doorway, the shadow she casts skittering across the floor for a couple of seconds until she's inside the bedroom.

Castle grins, his eyes crinkling up … _oh Kate, how careless!_ It had only been a fleeting interruption of the glow visible through the shelves, but he now knew she had either entered or moved out of the bedroom. _Caaareeleess Kate!_

He moves along until he's up against the corner of the bookshelves. He finds a gap between a book and a stone miniature of the Temple of the Great Jaguar at Tikal, peers through the gap and tries to spot her. After several minutes he decides that she must have gone into the bedroom, he can't see any sign of her … unless she's in his reading area off to the left. He moves down to the doorway …. takes a deep breath and rolls into the study ending up on the floor between the two armchairs opposite his desk. He turns to face left, pops up onto his knee as the laser gun lines up with …. an empty space.

Quickly he drops to the ground again, spins to face the bedroom door and inches round the furniture. He can see the glow from the lamps in the bedroom …. ookeeey, so he is going to be in light when he goes in, and she is either going to be in darkness in the bathroom or in the closet ….

He moves up next to the bedroom doorway. Slowly, he stands up, back to the shelves … takes a deep breath and jumps through …. "_Eeeeh!_"

Kate is waiting for him as he jumps through the doorway. He lands is a semi crouch head swinging round in search of her … he spots her …. could hardly fail to do so … and freezes .. mouth dropping open, eyes flying wide, a squawk emitting from his tightened throat ..…

_Zap! _

"_Kate …. soooo not fair!_" He complains as he just stands there staring at her lying on the bed, totally naked except for the laser tag vest as she places the muzzle to her mouth and 'blows the smoke' away.

"_One, zero Castle … I told you ... you're so going to get your ass kicked!_"

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**AN: Just in case, don't expect many of these … There are only so many variables to a laser-tag game outcome that I can think of … and I have no intention of regurgitating 'the stalking' process time and again!**

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**First to One Thousand - 2**

It was time for revenge! So ok, last time she had got him good and proper … hell! How was he supposed to react to a naked Beckett on his bed … come to think about it, she could have zapped him about 500 times and he'd have still stood there, jaw on the floor, unable to coordinate hand and eye …. Geez! He could hardly coordinate his breathing, let alone anything else.

So, one week down the line and he had challenged her to round two … in the underground garage … there was no way she'd strip naked in a public place … though the idea was … NO! Don't go there! She was capable of using her ninja mind games on him even down here …. he'd be thinking of all the possibilities of a naked Kate Beckett and an underground car park and she'd be zapping him again … no, time to get his mind out of the gutter ….. or bed, or the shower ….. or the passenger seat of the Ferrari … mind you, the hood was nicely curved … CASTLE! … Christ! He was even calling himself out Beckett style! Ugh.

He is near the lifts, she is over somewhere near the ramp to the street, or at least that was their starting positions, though with the amount of time he'd spent imagining sexy Beckett in the … everything, she could be standing right behind him … the lift pings behind him …

"_Aaagh!"_ He spins round crouching as he does, laser gun lining up on … Mrs Kaplovsky from 3A who is staring at the apparition before her with startled eyes, mouth agape, handbag clutched to her chest with one hand whilst the other grips her walking stick, white-knuckled …

It is Mrs Kaplovsky who recovers first; with a war cry that has Castle's blood curdling, the indomitable little lady with blue dyed hair raises her cane above her head, clutches her bag even tighter to her chest and starts swinging wildly at him.

At first he hopes that his garbled "_It's me Mrs K … Castle … Rick Castle … from the loft …_" will stop her from attacking him, but after the walking stick catches him painfully for a third time and her repeatedly yelled "_Think you can rob a little old lady, you dirty scumbag!_" drowns him out he opts for the safer tactic of dodging behind the nearest car for protection.

Unfortunately for Rick, the nearest car happens to be Mrs K's own 1970, silver grey, Mercedes 280 SL, which even the late Mr K would not have _dared_ touch! The sight of her assailant apparently trying to steal her most prized possession escalates Mrs K's fury to such levels that not only is she chasing round after Castle with her flailing stick, but she is also wading in with a swinging handbag.

Rick doesn't know what Mrs K carries in her bag … but an uneducated guess would be a house brick … from the thump he receives on his shoulder as the bag connects. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valour, Castle opts for a quick retreat into the darker corners of the garage, ducking down between the parked cars in the hope that the sensor lights don't come on and give his position away to the still irate Mrs K who is standing at the back of her car, chest heaving, walking stick 'en garde' and handbag swinging by her hip.

Rubbing a hand over his still sore shoulder, Rick carefully edges away from the lift area, keeping a wary eye on Mrs K who is still glaring around her, daring the uncouth scum of the city to come and take a helpless old lady on … he shakes his head, not even the Russian Mafia would stand a chance against Mrs K!

As he reaches the pillar that will hide him from his blood-seeking neighbour, he lets out a sigh of relief, shuffles round behind it and stands up ….

The girly scream that comes out of his throat even has Mrs K scuttling for the lifts in hasty retreat.

Standing before him, some four feet away, wearing Kate's purple Laser Tag equipment …. stands a grinning Creaver …..

_Zap!_

"_Two, zero Castle … " _says the Creaver, removing her mask_ "As I said ... your ass is mine in every way!_"

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**AN: Ok, I have to admit it … some enthusiastic reviews egging me on … so here goes .. **

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**First to One Thousand - 3**

The new magnetic score chart on the fridge door is not only a painful jab at his already sore ego, it's also a god darned provocation … and where did she get it anyway? It's there for all to see … the three columns with his and her name at the top of the first two and below, the scores … two round, fat, pointless, useless zeros under his name … two firm, straight ones under her name … but no, she couldn't be satisfied with just humiliating him in public … well as public as his fridge door gets to be … but in the third column she has drawn in two stick figures; one in a slightly bent over position feet off the ground ... the second stick figure kicking him up the ass. And no prizes for guessing who the ass-kicking figure is … not with those scores!

So! He needs to plan his revenge most carefully. The scores need to be levelled up and it is _his_ turn to kick ass today! What's more, he has drawn up some rules of engagement … he never had to do that with Alexis! Sweet girl … but his Detective was getting just too smart for her pants … even if they did fit her cute bum just so … uh … _Focus Castle!_ .. oh yes. That's right, so, he has drawn up some rul …. Just a minute, he's already been there! … crap! …. it's those pants of hers … anyway, the rules stated no more unfair use of nakedness and no more Creaver mask … in fact, if he gets his way, that freaking mask is going in the bin!

He'd texted her … laid out the rules in abbreviated sms text; _NO Flashing _( · ) ( · )_ and NO Creaver!_

He'd got a message back: _I thought you likes my_ ( · ) ( · )_? _

Well, he did! Loved them … but not in the middle of a laser tag game! They distracted him too much!

So here he is, waiting, and he hears the key turn. Stands up from the kitchen stool and watches her as she drops the keys in the ashtray by the door, hangs her coat up and then is in his arms, face turned up for a kiss … and then she's telling him she needs a shower and would he get something for her to eat before they play the next round, and she's disappeared through the study door … and shit! … he hasn't laid the ground rules and he'd better get his act together or she'll be kicking his ass again!

She's in the bathroom and this is going to kill her. She knows its heavy … but geez! So she looks around … sees the bath mat and grabs it, lays it on the floor, and now if she can rock it backwards … just like that … and now maybe she can use her feet to slide the mat most of the way under … and now ease it down .. ok, steady .. that looks like it might work … now all she has to do is grab hold of the edge of the mat and pull … shit, its awkward … but its moving anyway and now she can drag it … it's a bit tricky here, the floor is still wet from her shower and the mat doesn't slide as easily … ok, at last it's in place … but now she can't get the mat out .. well, no matter it will just have to stay there.

So now she's dried herself off, and is in yoga pants and his t-shirt that says _Writers do it with their fingers_ and she doesn't know whether she want to eat or try out the phrase … but she's hungry and he want to play laser tag and she can go with that … the fingers part can be his punishment for loosing … she really _is_ enjoying kicking his ass!

She's looking fresh and clean and relaxed and he loves her in her skinny pants and his huge t-shirt .. especially _that_ one and he grins at her as he pushes a plate of thinly sliced Spanish Serrano ham and a selection of cheeses across the counter, picks out a bread stick from the basket and wraps a slice of ham around it, offers it to her and she doesn't take it … she just leans forward and slowly bites the end off, looking at him from under her lashes … and his ground rules are out the window and winging their way down Fifth Avenue into the _Forgotten what I was thinking about _department store …

She finishes the ham and a good bit of the Brie and most of the Manchego and left him the Cheddar … and she's slipping the vest on and he's about to remember ….. and she's giving him a saucy smile, and is turning the lights off as she disappears into the study … and it's too late, he's been played again and next time he's making sure the ground rules are set in stone _before_ they start …

And he knows her tactics by now, she's going to ambush him, but this time he's not going to give her time to set the ambush up, and he's into the study not long after her … and its effing pitch black in here … she's drawn the curtains as well as turning the lights off … and .. _Ouch!_ … he's stubbed his toe on the leg of his chair and he's hopping about and if he doesn't watch it he'll be falling over and getting zapped … so he winces and puts his foot down and ignores the pain in a very manly way … and the bedroom is pitch black also … no lights on and so she can't be intending to do the Mata Hari number on him again … but he can hear water running and … is it the shower?

He pauses in the bedroom doorway. Carefully pokes his head round the edge … stares at the closet door …. but he thinks its closed … not too sure in the darkness … so he crouches down and shuffles into the room turning quickly to look behind him and almost yelps in fright … almost but he manages to hold it down to a sort of pre-pubescent squeal crossed with a grunt … it's the mirror … he just remembered in time that that was the wall mirror behind him … and the shower is still running and she's either thinking the noise will cover her creeping up behind hi … shit! … he has another quick glance over his shoulder … nothing .. phew!

So he's moving up stealthily towards the bathroom door … and its open and the sound of running water is getting louder … and he can vaguely make out the counter … so there must be a bit of street lighting shining through the bathroom window … and that means he'll be able to see her if she makes a move … and time for another quick check behind him … nothing, too dark to make anything out … but the lights on her vest would give her away … she's not behind him ... so he shuffles into the bathroom … crouched low, ready for her … nothing.

But the shower cubicle is there and he can vaguely make her out though the frosted glass .. and she must think he's dumb if she thinks he's going to fall for the Naked Nikki Number again … so he takes a deep breath, steels his mind against lovely breasts and curving hips and flat stomachs and … _Castle! Focus!_ … and has to take another deep breath .. and then he's springing forwards and pulling open the shower door with a warrior-like yell and firing his laser before his eyes get distracted by her nake …. Boba Fett figure …..

What! Boba Fett is in the shower! How the he…

Zap!

His shoulders drop in defeat, he slowly turns around and looks at her as she stands in the bathroom doorway, vest and goggles and shoulder pads glowing … enough to make out her mocking grin as holds the laser gun up by her head ….

"_Three, zero Castle! I think I'll get your ass wall mounted and hung over my desk!_"

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**_AN: Have transferred these three chapters into one in order to regain doc space as I have used up all 50 slots :)_ **


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